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08-02-2007, 11:17 AM
MINNEAPOLIS - Federal officials and Minnesota lawmakers prepared to travel to the Twin Cities Thursday to begin investigating the collapse of an interstate bridge into the Mississippi River. Underwater, divers searched for more bodies entombed in cars trapped beneath the twisted steel and concrete slabs of a collapsed bridge.
The Homeland Security Department said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related, but Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek said Thursday that the cause of the collapse was still unknown.
“All indications are that it was a collapse, not an act of someone doing it,” Stanek said. He said at least a dozen submerged vehicles were visible in the water.
The official death count stood at four Thursday morning, but Police Chief Tim Dolan said as many as 30 victims were still in the water. Hospital officials counted 79 more injured.
“We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles,” Dolan said Thursday morning. “We know we do have more casualties at the scene.”
The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when the bridge buckled during the evening rush hour Wednesday. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus hung at an angle on the concrete.
Underwater, divers were taking down license plate numbers for authorities to track down their drivers. Getting the vehicles out was expected to take days and involve moving around very large, heavy pieces of bridge.
“The bridge is still shifting,” Dolan said. “We’re dealing with the Mississippi River. We’re dealing with currents. We’re going to have to do it slowly and safely.”
‘Recovery operation’
Dolan said police estimate that 20 to 30 people were unaccounted for, though he stressed that it was just an estimate.
Fire Chief Jim Clack said Thursday that emergency work was no longer a rescue operation. “It’s a recovery operation,” he said.
At Hennepin County Medical Center, patients had arrived in a stead stream after the collapse, some unconscious or moaning, some barely breathing, and others with serious head and back injuries, Dr. William Heegaard said.
“There was blood everywhere,” he said.
Relatives who couldn’t find their missing loved ones at hospitals gathered in a hotel ballroom Thursday for news, hoping for the best.
“I’ve never wanted to see my brother so much in my life,” said Kristi Foster, who went to an information center set up at a Holiday Inn looking for her brother Kirk. She hadn’t had contact with her brother or his girlfriend, Krystle Webb, since the previous night.
Authorities initially said at least seven people had died, but Police Lt. Amelia Huffman lowered that number Thursday morning, saying, “The medical examiner’s office only has four sets of remains.” She said the initial reports were based on the best estimates authorities had Wednesday night.
As many as 50 vehicles tumbled into the river when the bridge collapsed. Many of their occupants had scrambled to shore. Some carried the injured up the riverbank, while emergency workers tended to others on the ground and some jumped into the water to look for survivors.
President Bush offered his condolences to the victims and said the federal government would help ensure that the span is rebuilt as quickly as possible.
"We in the federal government must respond, and respond robustly, to help the people there not only recover, but to make sure that lifeline of activity — that bridge — gets rebuilt as quickly as possible," Bush said Thursday in the Rose Garden following a Cabinet meeting.
First lady Laura Bush planned to travel to Minneapolis on Friday to console the victims’ families, White House press secretary Tony Snow said.
What caused the collapse?
The National Transportation Safety Board will be sending a team of investigators, NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said. The team will be accompanied by NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker, Lopatkiewicz said.
Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was flying to the Twin Cities early Thursday morning along with the state’s two U.S. senators, Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Amy Klobuchar.
Peters spoke with both senators and with Gov. Tim Pawlenty, offering any help she could provide, spokesman Brian Turmail said.
While the focus has to be on emergency response, Coleman said, authorities will have to also set up a transportation system.
“Down the road, they will be doing full a forensic analysis to see what caused this,” Coleman said.
Rated as ‘structurally deficient’ in 2005
The bridge had been inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and no immediate structural problems were noted, Pawlenty said Wednesday.
“There were some minor things that needed attention,” he said. “They notified us from an engineering standpoint the deck might need to be rehabilitated or replaced in 2020 or beyond.”
A federal database, however, showed the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as “structurally deficient” in 2005 and possibly in need of replacement, the Star Tribune reported citing the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory.
The White House also confirmed the 2005 inspection. Snow said the span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability.
“This doesn’t mean there was a risk of failure, but if an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions,” he said.
Jeanne Aamodt, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said her agency was aware of the 2005 assessment. She noted that many other bridges around the country carry the same designation and declined to say what the agency had done to address the deficiencies.
The bridge was fitted in 2001 with a computerized anti-icing system that sprayed chemicals on the surface during winter weather, according to documents posted on the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Web site.
‘They basically rode the bridge down to the water’
This week, road crews had been working on the bridge’s joints, guardrails and lights, with lane closures overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday.
There were 18 construction workers on the bridge at the time of the collapse, said Tom Sloan, head of the bridge division for Progressive Contractors Inc., in St. Michael. One of the workers was unaccounted for.
“But we don’t give up hope,” Michael McGray, also of Progressive Contractors, Inc. said. He added he had “no idea” what might have caused the collapse.
Sloan said his crew was placing concrete finish on the bridge for what he called a routine resurfacing project.
Sloan said his workers described a horrific scene. “They said they basically rode the bridge down to the water. They were sliding into cars and cars were sliding into them,” he said.
The entire span of Interstate 35W crumpled into the river below.
“These are horrible images but within each of those images is a story. That car you see tangled in the wreckage is someone’s cousin, brother or husband, “ Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Ryback told reporters.
“Thank God this wasn’t worse,” Ryback said.
The school bus had just crossed the bridge when it collapsed. It did not go into the water, and the children were able to escape unharmed out the back door.
Scenes of horror
Christine Swift’s 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.
“She was screaming, ‘The bridge collapsed,”’ Swift said. All the kids got off the bus safely, but about 10 of the children were injured, officials said.
The collapsed bridge is just blocks from the heart of Minneapolis, near tourist attractions like the new Guthrie Theater and the Stone Arch Bridge. As the steamy night progressed massive crowds of onlookers circulated in the area on foot or bicycle, some of them wearing Twins T-shirts and caps after departing Wednesday night’s game at the nearby Metrodome early.
Thursday’s game between the Twins and Kansas City Royals was called off, but the Twins decided to go ahead with Wednesday’s rather than sending about 25,000 fans back out onto the congested highways. Inside the stadium, there was a moment of silence to honor victims.
The steel-arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rose about 64 feet above the river and stretched about 1,900 feet across the water. The bridge was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid putting any piers in the water that might interfere with river navigation.
The river’s depth at the bridge was not immediately available, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a channel depth of at least 9 feet in the Upper Mississippi from Minneapolis southward to allow for barge and other river traffic. The site is just downstream from the St. Anthony Falls locks and dams.
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Original Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20085333/
The Homeland Security Department said the collapse did not appear to be terrorism-related, but Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek said Thursday that the cause of the collapse was still unknown.
“All indications are that it was a collapse, not an act of someone doing it,” Stanek said. He said at least a dozen submerged vehicles were visible in the water.
The official death count stood at four Thursday morning, but Police Chief Tim Dolan said as many as 30 victims were still in the water. Hospital officials counted 79 more injured.
“We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles,” Dolan said Thursday morning. “We know we do have more casualties at the scene.”
The eight-lane Interstate 35W bridge, a major Minneapolis artery, was in the midst of repairs when the bridge buckled during the evening rush hour Wednesday. Dozens of cars plummeted more than 60 feet into the Mississippi River, some falling on top one of another. A school bus hung at an angle on the concrete.
Underwater, divers were taking down license plate numbers for authorities to track down their drivers. Getting the vehicles out was expected to take days and involve moving around very large, heavy pieces of bridge.
“The bridge is still shifting,” Dolan said. “We’re dealing with the Mississippi River. We’re dealing with currents. We’re going to have to do it slowly and safely.”
‘Recovery operation’
Dolan said police estimate that 20 to 30 people were unaccounted for, though he stressed that it was just an estimate.
Fire Chief Jim Clack said Thursday that emergency work was no longer a rescue operation. “It’s a recovery operation,” he said.
At Hennepin County Medical Center, patients had arrived in a stead stream after the collapse, some unconscious or moaning, some barely breathing, and others with serious head and back injuries, Dr. William Heegaard said.
“There was blood everywhere,” he said.
Relatives who couldn’t find their missing loved ones at hospitals gathered in a hotel ballroom Thursday for news, hoping for the best.
“I’ve never wanted to see my brother so much in my life,” said Kristi Foster, who went to an information center set up at a Holiday Inn looking for her brother Kirk. She hadn’t had contact with her brother or his girlfriend, Krystle Webb, since the previous night.
Authorities initially said at least seven people had died, but Police Lt. Amelia Huffman lowered that number Thursday morning, saying, “The medical examiner’s office only has four sets of remains.” She said the initial reports were based on the best estimates authorities had Wednesday night.
As many as 50 vehicles tumbled into the river when the bridge collapsed. Many of their occupants had scrambled to shore. Some carried the injured up the riverbank, while emergency workers tended to others on the ground and some jumped into the water to look for survivors.
President Bush offered his condolences to the victims and said the federal government would help ensure that the span is rebuilt as quickly as possible.
"We in the federal government must respond, and respond robustly, to help the people there not only recover, but to make sure that lifeline of activity — that bridge — gets rebuilt as quickly as possible," Bush said Thursday in the Rose Garden following a Cabinet meeting.
First lady Laura Bush planned to travel to Minneapolis on Friday to console the victims’ families, White House press secretary Tony Snow said.
What caused the collapse?
The National Transportation Safety Board will be sending a team of investigators, NTSB spokesman Ted Lopatkiewicz said. The team will be accompanied by NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker, Lopatkiewicz said.
Meanwhile, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters was flying to the Twin Cities early Thursday morning along with the state’s two U.S. senators, Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Amy Klobuchar.
Peters spoke with both senators and with Gov. Tim Pawlenty, offering any help she could provide, spokesman Brian Turmail said.
While the focus has to be on emergency response, Coleman said, authorities will have to also set up a transportation system.
“Down the road, they will be doing full a forensic analysis to see what caused this,” Coleman said.
Rated as ‘structurally deficient’ in 2005
The bridge had been inspected by the Minnesota Department of Transportation in 2005 and 2006 and no immediate structural problems were noted, Pawlenty said Wednesday.
“There were some minor things that needed attention,” he said. “They notified us from an engineering standpoint the deck might need to be rehabilitated or replaced in 2020 or beyond.”
A federal database, however, showed the 40-year-old bridge had been rated as “structurally deficient” in 2005 and possibly in need of replacement, the Star Tribune reported citing the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory.
The White House also confirmed the 2005 inspection. Snow said the span rated 50 on a scale of 120 for structural stability.
“This doesn’t mean there was a risk of failure, but if an inspection report identifies deficiencies, the state is responsible for taking corrective actions,” he said.
Jeanne Aamodt, a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, said her agency was aware of the 2005 assessment. She noted that many other bridges around the country carry the same designation and declined to say what the agency had done to address the deficiencies.
The bridge was fitted in 2001 with a computerized anti-icing system that sprayed chemicals on the surface during winter weather, according to documents posted on the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Web site.
‘They basically rode the bridge down to the water’
This week, road crews had been working on the bridge’s joints, guardrails and lights, with lane closures overnight on Tuesday and Wednesday.
There were 18 construction workers on the bridge at the time of the collapse, said Tom Sloan, head of the bridge division for Progressive Contractors Inc., in St. Michael. One of the workers was unaccounted for.
“But we don’t give up hope,” Michael McGray, also of Progressive Contractors, Inc. said. He added he had “no idea” what might have caused the collapse.
Sloan said his crew was placing concrete finish on the bridge for what he called a routine resurfacing project.
Sloan said his workers described a horrific scene. “They said they basically rode the bridge down to the water. They were sliding into cars and cars were sliding into them,” he said.
The entire span of Interstate 35W crumpled into the river below.
“These are horrible images but within each of those images is a story. That car you see tangled in the wreckage is someone’s cousin, brother or husband, “ Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Ryback told reporters.
“Thank God this wasn’t worse,” Ryback said.
The school bus had just crossed the bridge when it collapsed. It did not go into the water, and the children were able to escape unharmed out the back door.
Scenes of horror
Christine Swift’s 10-year-old daughter, Kaleigh, was on the bus, returning from a field trip to Bunker Hills in Blaine. She said her daughter called her about 6:10 p.m.
“She was screaming, ‘The bridge collapsed,”’ Swift said. All the kids got off the bus safely, but about 10 of the children were injured, officials said.
The collapsed bridge is just blocks from the heart of Minneapolis, near tourist attractions like the new Guthrie Theater and the Stone Arch Bridge. As the steamy night progressed massive crowds of onlookers circulated in the area on foot or bicycle, some of them wearing Twins T-shirts and caps after departing Wednesday night’s game at the nearby Metrodome early.
Thursday’s game between the Twins and Kansas City Royals was called off, but the Twins decided to go ahead with Wednesday’s rather than sending about 25,000 fans back out onto the congested highways. Inside the stadium, there was a moment of silence to honor victims.
The steel-arched bridge, which was built in 1967, rose about 64 feet above the river and stretched about 1,900 feet across the water. The bridge was built with a single 458-foot-long steel arch to avoid putting any piers in the water that might interfere with river navigation.
The river’s depth at the bridge was not immediately available, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains a channel depth of at least 9 feet in the Upper Mississippi from Minneapolis southward to allow for barge and other river traffic. The site is just downstream from the St. Anthony Falls locks and dams.
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Original Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20085333/